Electrical connectors are used in a variety of applications or environments wherein it is desirable or necessary to protect the connector components or the mating connection of the connector with a complementary connector from vibrations due to the mounting of the connector. The applications can range from automobiles to refrigerators and countless other environments.
Likewise, the provision of anti-vibration means can take a wide range of forms, from fastening means for rigidly fixing the connector to its support, to more versatile means such as snap-action mounting means.
For instance, a connector housing can be molded with an integral anti-vibration arm which is yieldable or sufficiently flexible to bias the connector against its mount and to take up any slack therebetween which might otherwise result in rattling of the connector in response to vibrations. The anti-vibration arm could engage and yield against one side of a panel, for instance, in a panel-mounted connector, or the anti-vibration arm might yieldably engage an abutment surface on a complementary connector.
One of the problems with using anti-vibration arms, flanges, or the like which are integral with a molded dielectric connector housing, is that the anti-vibration means are subject to stresses, particularly when cantilevered outwardly from a substantially rigidified housing wall. Dielectric housings of most connectors are fabricated of plastic material, and the cantilevered anti-vibration arms, flanges or the like too often are subject to breakage when encountering undue stress.
This invention is directed to solving these problems by providing a new and improved electrical connector which includes stress relief means in its anti-vibration means.